Invest in Personal Growth

Personal Growth is an Option. Change is not.

Our character impacts everything that we do, including our behavior. It influences our personal and professional relationships as well as how effective we are at our work. Of course, it is not necessarily easy. Consider yourself an investment, experience scores of benefits.

OVERVIEW

There are many arguments for not working on the self. It is not useful, attractive or, helpful. Even trained and disciplined military staff recognize that personal growth is challenging. Chaplan, Capt. Meade Adams, 2nd Bomb Wing Chapel stated that “In some respects military discipline is easier than many of these things.” A current recruitment trend is to hire candidates who possess functional soft skills; “being clever is not enough.”

To conquer oneself is the best and noblest victory; to be vanquished by one’s own nature is the worst and most ignoble defeat. – Plato

BENEFIT

Nevertheless, personal growth has many rewards is often the key to greater accomplishments. Personal growth can add new dimensions to a personality that help one ease difficulties with oneself and with others.

We all have many levels of self. How often do we struggle to prioritize competing needs or desires? These demands represent the layers of self that each person has to manage on a moment to moment basis. Working on one’s self can reduce the confusion and tension related this complex system. For instance, when one has greater clarity of their emotions and greater grasp of their discipline they can eliminate procrastination.

Working with one’s own self is just the beginning. Often, there is even greater pay off with relationships. When a person is able to reduce their stress, negotiate complexity better, and understand their own needs they are better equipped to communicate effectively with others. In addition, building communication skills is a soft skill that one can develop both with awareness and with instruction. Employees who have personal growth opportunities experience greater happiness. Personal character is said to contribute to the greater community as well. These are just a few ways that personal growth or character can positively impact ones self, their relationship and their professional interactions.

INVEST

Personal growth requires an investment from the individual in a number of forms. It requires careful review of both the positive and negative characteristics. Then, a willingness to pay attention to the habits or manners that are interfering with top performance. The ego often needs to be tamed. A coach can carefully partner to enhance strengths and limit deficiencies. Time and finances are often part of the investment as well. Last, the greatest investment is change.

Letting go of the former parts of oneself to add greater dimensions of self-possession can be emotionally painful. Frequently habits develop that function however, their utility is only for dysfunctional circumstances. Discontinuing the old to bring in novel, fresh ways of managing the self is the largest investment with the greatest reward.

CHOICE

When you assert the best you possible each day you earn greater respect for yourself, are happier with more fulfillment. Small actions (such as awareness or attitude) have tremendous leverage. The choice to grow is not something that one has to take on for every hour of the day for the rest of their lives. It can simple be the next right step. Keep in mind that no decision is a decision. You can be the agent who uses your self as instrument of change. What is the next step for you in your path of development?